UMMC takes on burn center challenge, replacing closed center at Merit Health

Ross Reily, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
·2 min read
Trauma rooms in the University of Mississippi Medical Center Adult Emergency Department are equipped and staffed to treat many emergencies including burn victims.
Trauma rooms in the University of Mississippi Medical Center Adult Emergency Department are equipped and staffed to treat many emergencies including burn victims.

With Mississippi’s only burn center at Merit Health Central in South Jackson having closed in October 2022, the University of Mississippi Medical Center promised to step in to help fill the void.

UMMC is taking on the challenge full time as it has announced that it has established the Mississippi Burn Center on its main campus in Jackson, elevating the state’s only academic medical center’s commitment to serve Mississippians in need of burn care.

The Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning approved UMMC’s request on Thursday to establish and operate the Mississippi Burn Center.

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“This approval confirms our commitment to providing complex care to burn patients so they can receive timely care close to home and with the trusted expertise of Mississippi’s only academic medical center,” said Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs. “We want to keep burn care in Mississippi for Mississippians.”

UMMC will hold a press conference Friday to unveil more details.

After the Oct. 14 closing at Merit Health, burn patients were originally redirected to Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, Firefighters Burn Center — Regional One Health in Memphis, Tennessee, or USA Health in Mobile, Alabama.

UMMC, in a statement released Thursday, said it has “assembled the resources and expertise to fill the health care gap. Previous legislation directed UMMC to establish a burn center and the establishment of the Mississippi Burn Center today not only fulfills the Medical Center’s statutory responsibility but also provides needed care for burn patients in the state. UMMC will also collaborate with the Mississippi State Department of Health to finalize accreditation of the Mississippi Burn Center.”

Pediatric patients account for nearly one-third of total inpatient burn cases in Mississippi. The previous center at Merit Health included 13 burn intensive care patient rooms, 20 burn step-down unit patient rooms and a 12-room outpatient clinic.

“The complex medical needs of burn patients require support from a broad range of specialists — ones you typically associate with burn programs, such as plastic surgery, and others you may not typically think of, like gastroenterology, ophthalmology, and urology,” a statement from Merit Health said at the time of closure. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the challenging staffing and recruitment environment have made it increasingly difficult for us to recruit the breadth of specialists needed to maintain the burn program.”

The burn center has had many problems in the last 20 years. The Mississippi Firefighters Burn Center resided in Greenville at Delta Regional Medical Center for 33 years until 2005 when it closed because of a lack of funding and staffing. After that, severe burn victims were flown to Augusta, Georgia.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: UMMC takes on burn center challenge, replacing closed center at Merit Health